Page 39

Esmyra

E smyra’s boots splashed in stagnant water. Wiping her brow, she halted as the males accompanying her peered over her shoulder.

“Seawater?” Jak asked.

Esmyra sniffed the air, the brine in the air stinging her nose. “I would assume.”

“How deep does it go?” Draevyn asked.

She faced him with a raised brow. “Does it look like I have any fucking clue? I’ve never been this far into the cave.” Her words faded to a whisper. “We keep moving.”

Draevyn snorted. “Well, forgive me for not knowing your magic has limits, siren .”

Esmyra shot him a dagger-like glare before turning to Jak. “We should’ve brought a gods-damn muzzle for him.”

“Esmi,” Jak whispered, as if the others wouldn’t be able to hear. “If this water keeps getting deeper, we won’t be able to go much further.”

“I know,” she answered softly. “But we need to go as far as we can. Cyrus is depending on us.”

The deeper they walked, the thicker the air became. Sweat beaded down their faces .

“Why don’t you remove your coat, Esmi?” Jak offered. “It’s too hot and only weighing you down.”

Gods , she wanted nothing more.

Her eyes widened slightly, clutching the coat tighter. “I’m fine,” she lied, feeling as if she might die of a heat stroke.

Jak stopped in his tracks, causing the others to in turn. He watched her warily. “Is something wrong? You’ve been acting strange since we arrived.”

“Of course not, Jak. Let’s just keep moving.” She nervously tugged at the collar of the jacket as it stuck to her skin.

The water, once ankle-deep, now rose to their shins, bone-chillingly cold as it seeped into their boots.

The cave was alive with strange sounds now: the occasional clatter of stones falling from the walls, the gurgle of water in hidden crevices, and a faint, almost subtle hum that seemed to vibrate through the stone itself.

A low thrumming rumbled beneath Esmyra’s feet, as if the cave was breathing, pulsing with some ancient energy.

“Do you hear that?” she asked quietly, and she was answered with a few low hums of agreement. She gazed down the darkened path before them. “It’s coming from up ahead.”

Esmyra took off in a sprint, the splashes from everyone’s steps echoing as they chased after her. The cave floor continued to slope downward, and the water rose again, cold and swirling around their knees.

The crew stumbled to a halt as the tunnel opened into a vast chamber.

The ceiling here rose impossibly high, lost in the darkness, and the sound of rushing water roared all around them.

At the far end of the chamber, a massive stone archway stood half-submerged in the underground pool they were in, the water rippling in strange, unnatural patterns that put even Esmyra on edge.

Kaelypso’s tits. What the fuck is that?

She knew water. Wielded it—was one with it. Yet, she’d certainly never seen it do that .

Esmyra stepped forward, her breath catching. The archway was covered in the same ancient carvings, and something about the way the water shimmered beneath it made her skin hum. It was as if the pool wasn’t water at all, but something alive, something waiting.

She couldn’t shake the feeling that it had been waiting for her . The markings along her arms and spine warmed at the thought.

The crew shifted behind her, their unease palpable. The air felt thinner down here. The once humid tunnel had turned into a vast cavern that had an abrupt coldness sinking into their bones.

“Well, this is creepy,” Ren said with a nervous laugh.

“Aye,” Esmyra breathed as she scanned their surroundings, the hairs on her arms standing alert.

Jak stepped up to her, trying to catch his breath. “Everything inside of me is saying we need to turn back. Something’s off about this place, Esmi. It doesn’t feel right.”

But Esmyra’s eyes were fixed on the ancient archway, her nose wrinkling beneath furrowed brows. This was what they had come for—the path to the kingdom beneath the sea. She felt it in her very being, as if it were calling to her in her mind.

“We’re close,” she said, though she sensed they were standing on the edge of something dangerous, perhaps even deadly.

The crew exchanged wary glances but remained silent. They trusted her, that she knew, but they feared the cave. Truthfully, she didn’t blame them; something inside herself felt a primal force lurking within the confines of where they now stood.

Teeth clattered behind her, and she found both Ren and Riven were huffing hot air into their hands for warmth at the sudden drop in temperature.

“Want to know what would come in handy right now?” Draevyn’s voice echoed as he wore a smug look.

“So help me gods, if you say?—”

“My fire? What will you do, Esmyra? Cut out my tongue?” He winked at her, and she blinked.

No one ever challenged her the way he did, and the bastard kept getting braver each time. She desperately tried to ignore the subtle heat pooling between her thighs at his sudden remark.

That certainly wasn’t something she was used to .

Jak let out a huff. “Nice try, Phoenix. You’ll remain in the cuffs.”

“Even if it means your precious captain freezes?”

“I’ll be fine,” she snapped, though her eyes wandered back to her shivering crew, worry rushing through her. “We’ve come this far. Just a little further, and if we come across something too dangerous or a dead end, we’ll turn back.”

With a steadying breath, Esmyra moved toward the archway. The water lapped at her boots as she waded deeper; the males following close behind. The chamber echoed with the sound of their movement, and the strange humming grew louder.

“Gods, I can’t fucking wait to get back to the ship,” Riven said through chattering teeth.

“Aye,” Ren chimed in.

“Knock it off,” Jak interjected. “She wants to keep going. This is for Cyrus. Remember that.”

Esmyra stared up at the carved stone and its meticulous markings. It was beautiful and ancient, the sight of it nearly took her breath away. This had to have been part of the lost kingdom—and it was hidden , locked beneath the earth, for no one to see or find again.

Esmyra’s lips parted, heart racing as a roaring filled her ears. Her body felt like it was being controlled by something else entirely, her fingertips aching with the need to touch the archway as if it were calling her home.

Touch it , a voice urged in her mind, startling her.

The siren within her had never outright spoken to her before. It was more of an entity she could feel and sense. So why was this happening now? A rush of fear surged through her as the ancient voice echoed in her mind.

Taking a brief glance over each shoulder, she noticed all eyes were on her, looking more concerned than they had only a moment before.

Draevyn subtly shook his head as their stares locked.

It calls to us. Touch the stone , it urged again. She sucked in a sharp breath, an aching need to obey roiling through her.

Esmyra turned from him and gently placed her palm on the stone. The moment her skin made contact with the arch, she no longer felt the chill of the cavern air, and a lick of intense heat raced along her spine and down her arms. She gasped from the shock of it, but kept her hand in place.

“Esmi! What are you—” Jak’s words died on his tongue as quickly as they raced out.

The rune markings carved along the stone burst with a vibrant glow as the ground began to tremble. At first, it was a subtle vibration, but within moments, the walls around them groaned, rocks tumbling from the ceiling.

The crew began shouting as the shaking grew more violent, but Esmyra’s hand remained glued to the structure.

She could distantly hear their bellowing voices, begging and pleading for her to move, say, or do anything. But everything around her had evaporated, and all that stood before her was the entrance to her life—her true life. The life she should’ve always lived.

It called to her, beckoning her as if it were her own seductive song.

“ Esmyra !” Draevyn screamed in desperation above all others, and she blinked through her trance.

Everything came rushing back to her at once—the collapsing walls of the cave, the roaring of water, and the tumbling of boulders sent her heart into her throat. She started gasping for air—her chest heaving as if she hadn’t taken a single breath since she stepped up to the archway.

“Move, now!” Esmyra shouted, but it was too late.

With a thunderous rumble, giant pieces of the ceiling collapsed, sending a cascade of stones and debris crashing around them. Enormous waves and splashes erupted throughout the dark, open cavern.

“Esmyra, look out!” Draevyn roared.

Her eyes snapped up to the ceiling as an enormous piece of stone broke off, aiming for where she stood. Jaw agape, she took a hesitant step back, but shock froze her in place as the boulder fell, waiting for it to inevitably crush her beneath it.

One moment, she was standing, and the next, she found that her feet no longer touched the ground. Draevyn’s body crashed into hers, shoving her out of the way of the falling boulders, but when they both went to find their footing, the floor beneath their boots gave way.

The world seemed to move in slow motion, with even the smallest sounds and movements stretched out in time. The last thing Esmyra’s eyes caught was the horrified look on Jak’s face as she fell.

And then she and Draevyn were through the archway’s door.

The earth slipped out from under her as she tumbled down a steep slope. The jagged rocks scraped at her skin before she began free-falling alongside Draevyn and the rushing cascades of water. The panicked shouts of her crew grew distant as the darkness swallowed them from up above.

The fall seemed to stretch on endlessly as she plummeted through the void until she was plunged into bone-chilling water. The icy wetness jolted through her body like a sharpened blade.